Coffee break @ Austin Chase, Plaza Shah Alam

Another new outlet opens at the recently closed down Old Time White Coffee spot. But how long will this one last is an interesting question. Sure, there's always a fad for new things and places in Shah Alam, but if you are too pricey and offers nothing much, you wont last long. So dear Austin Chase, I hope you last long enough for me to try a few stuffs on your menu.

Tea break @ The Teapot Deli, SACC, Shah Alam

 After a round of shopping and before the next one, we had a break to let our poor legs rest. Looking for a nice baju kurung is not an easy job, mind you. SACC is a good place to look for nice and fancy frills, though price can be on the high side. It's known that some celebrities and mak datin come here to shop at the boutiques. But at least you know that not everyone in Shah Alam will be wearing the same thing as yours.

And so we end up in the Teapot Deli.

Tea break @ Sri Hainan kopitiam, Shah Alam

It's not often that I eat out in my own hometown since I'm forever working somewhere else other than my own place, but I can say that Shah Alam has its own perks with good food and places to chill out. Until recently did I have the chance to visit this long established kopitiam, Sri Hainan in Section 9.

First thing that I noticed are the bird cages used as part of their deco in the ceiling, antique - looking fans aside. Rustic, eh? :D

A taste of Middle East @ Sahara Tent, Shah Alam Mall

 Who would have thought that this Middle East diner actually originated from New Zealand??? Voted as one of the best of such diner in Malaysia by Tourism Malaysia itself, the diner first give our KL -  ites a taste of its Bedouin ambiance and of course, Arabic food.

Upbeat mamak food @ Uncle K Kopitiam, SACC Shah Alam

Uncle K @ SACC is a good chill - out  place if you are looking for air - conditioned mamak - cum - kopitiam kinda place. They serve nasi kandar, mamak food and the kinda food that you can find at a Malay stall, in a kopitiam setting i.e. the furnishing.

Nasi Lemak @ Restoran Jayati Seksyen 17, Shah Alam

 Malaysians likes to eat. Malaysians likes nasi lemak. Can I safely say that nasi lemak is a form of 1Malaysia? Heck, there's even a 1Malaysia movie on nasi lemak ~ Ever heard of Nasi Lemak 2.0?

 

Another dinner @ Laman Grill; Steak & Bar-B-Que, Shah Alam

 

 To celebrate a friend who came back recently from Ireland, we decided to dine again at this al fresco steak place. After all, my last visit was quite pleasant here.

Windmill Restaurant @ Shah Alam Mall - a trial of my hometown Western food diner

It was there for quite some time until for some reason I decided to drop by. I meant, few blogs offered a so - so opinions on this place, so of course I wont be jumping to go.

 But anyway I decided to drop by one day at the restaurant, at level 2 in Shah Alam Mall.

 My first thought was, why the tacky balloons and blue and pink cloth hanging up there?

Ok, a better view. Looks cozy enough.

 The Windmill.

I am expecting better than this. Can someone please learn to produce a signature in - house bread and butter please?

 Starters: shrimp cocktail salad and onion soup. I feel that they can do better with the shrimp cocktail salad by not using just plain old thousand island sauce. Onion soup was OK, but need to cut down the salt a tad.

Too buttery escargot, kinda overpowered the escargot taste a bit.

 Lobster baked with cheese. OK la. But what's with the frozen vege...

 Baked black cod.Typical Malaysia style of Western menu, french fries and coleslaw and salad.

But the pricing was quite OK, considering that it is not a fine dining place. A family restaurant, if I may. I still feel that it needs some polishing up especially on food presentation. A pity for the lobster.

By the way, what shall I classify this under?

Zam Zam Arabic Restaurant @ Shah Alam

Sahara Tent aside, Shah Alam has another Middle East diner to boast about. It's slightly cheaper option than Sahara Tent, with an open parking space that makes it convenient to drop by anytime. Quite a popular place, weekends see the place packed with families and buddies.

A Teapot of Delights: Teapot Deli

I had a wonderful @ Teapot Deli, SACC, Shah Alam with their selection of Western cuisines. It;s very rare but here you'll find well-turned homemade Western cuisines. Here are a few of my favourites!

Beef lasagna

Homemade fish pie with super creamy sauce!

Beef pie with brown sauce.

To complete, a dessert of scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream ^_^

I forgot... The lovely exteriors.

The Big Thrill Skytrex Adventure @ Bukit Cerakah!!!

Hehe I finally get to try the Skytrex at Taman Botani Malaysia @ Bukit Cerakah in Shah Alam, Selangor. Starting small with the Big Thrill ^_^ Or so my friend say (she failed to mention there is Little Adventure)

Small my head!! That platform was 17 meters high!!!

Swing swing... This is the toughest for me because my feet kept slipping off the swing...

The zig zag path was OK until certain part where I was too short to hold on to the rope with both hands and had to hang 1 handed...

The cheating rope bridge for those who are unable to go on. Not me ^_^

The flying fox was the best part. Give yourself a little push for an extra thrill!

Apart from platform climbing and that swingy thing, the whole ordeal was quite OK, nothing scary. The best part is rope walking where the wind sways you in the air and the flying foxes. I think my next target would be the Extreme Challenge on 22 meters above the ground ^_^

Booking is done via the Skytrex website

Pricing for Big Thrill is RM 35 inclusive of training. Gloves are optional for RM 3.

Other fascilities:
- transfer coach
- locker (deposit RM 5)
- sling bag for water bottle (deposit RM 5)
- Skydeck : a party area with picnic table; RM 15 per table for whole day booking
- bathroom
- cute instructors ^_^

Laman Grill, Steak & Bar-B-Que ~ A place to Steak in @ Shah Alam

There are not many Western food outlet in Shah Alam that you can really shout or blog about. Once in a while you'll see one cropping up, then to die off because of the chilly respond to it. I beg to differ in my opinion, but sometimes I just feel it's because these dying or dead places just don't understand the concept or simply do not get the concept right.

OK, let's not let my muttering dampen your spirit here. Because not all and always you'll get disappointed. So I give you Laman Grill, Steak & Bar-B-Que by Chef Zubair Zain.

More than 3 stars... UiTM Hotel Shah Alam

A nice and quiet birthday dinner at UiTM Hotel, Shah Alam, Selangor.

The interior.

Coconut juice with... SUGAR?

Ok, I was pissed with this shop in Shah Alam, Ani Sup Utara at Section 9. If you ever come here and order a coconut juice, tell them you want it WITHOUT sugar.

But in the first place, it's already absurd to serve coconut juice in the fruit with sugar. I almost sputter it out due to the shock of finding sugar grains in my mouth after a sip. When I called the waiter over, he said it's the way they serve coconut juice in their shop.



And when I demand to change with a non - sugar-added one, it was refused. Hello, it was not stated in your menu there, it was absurd, and what if I have diabetes? Since they totally refused to changed it, I have to order a new one since I badly wanted to drink coconut juice, minus the sugar.

The only good thing was that they serve it as a whole fruit.

I'm saying this again, it is freaking absurd to add sugar into a fresh coconut juice.

Bukit Cerakah (02): the cute part

I'm huge on animals, be it cooked or alive, especially if they are cute. For the cooked ones, as long as I don't watch the slaughtering process, I'd eat them with the exception of Bantam chicken and non - halal ones.

Anyway, I visited the Animal Park there since such thing is always in my priority if any animal park exists anywhere.

Bunnies!!!







I wonder why this one had a blue streak on its fur...



I forgot what this was but it's a turtle.



And porcupines.


I love it how they used their hands to eat!



There are many more but the conditions were too pathetic that it'll just ruin the image of this place if I post it up.

Again, I was disappointed...

Bukit Cerakah (01): That "Damn Hill" (?)

Last time they said that the origin of this place name is from the word "celaka" @ damn, pronounced cerakah because the locals couldn't pronounce it properly. Correct me if I’m wrong. Later on, they upgrade this place and gave it a better name, Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam @ Shah Alam Malaysia Algriculture Park. The latest re-naming was Taman Botanikal Negara @ National Botanical Park.

After many years since my last visit when I was, like, 10 maybe, I decided to pay homage to one of my childhood places. After all, it’s just a 5 minute drive from my house.



Surprisingly, the car park was pretty full though it’s only 10 on a Sunday morning. Turned out that many people like to come here for cycling activity and to hit the outdoor adventure activities (flying fox, paintball shooting and the likes), we found this out at the bicycle renting center where all the good bikes had already been taken up and we had to book and wait in the long waiting list for the next batch of bikes.

So we took the tour bus instead, which in a way was more convenient of me to catch a glimpse of the changes that the place had gone through.



Which I may say, yielded a disappointing result. Many of the places of attraction were poorly maintained, I’d say, what with the buildings looking sad and dilapidated, needing repair, mostly unopened to the public and the likes. The plant - based parks were a jungle of weeds and crumbling replicas, which did not live up to the name of National Botanical Park.

The only place that remained unchanged is the 4 Season House. It was spring time so flowers were in bloom. Enter the "refrigerator" to enjoy the season's best. You'll get what I mean if you visit this place yourself.





After the near-freezing experience in 4 Season House fridge, we took a walk at the nearby Mushroom park which had nothing special to offer except for mosquitoes at different breeding stages (sarcasm) and old mushrooms. But I snapped this delicious flower called bunga kantan which was in full bloom. This flower can be cooked up or eaten raw in several Malay dishes.



Ok, so I give you some nice views to ooh and aah at. Not much though since I omitted most of them due to such embarrassing details.


The watchtower which had such steep stairs that I crawled on all 4 at certain parts.



You can find more info on the place here: http://www.malaysiavacationguide.com/shahalam.html

Suffice to say, I was disappointed with the outing so permit me to use this word... DAMN!